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Sebastien Loeb, now a part-time driver in the World Rally Championship, opened the WRC season with a win in Monte Carlo on Saturday. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Citroen's Sebastien Loeb won the Monte Carlo Rally for the seventh time: the first event of his season of semi-retirement when he will only contest four rallies. In second place was Sebastien Ogier in what was a remarkable debut for the Volkswagen team with its all-new Polo R WRC. Completing the podium was Citroen returnee Dani Sordo, his first event back with the French squad after two seasons at Mini.

The final day of the snowy event took in just three stages in the end, but they were all classics -- held in the dusk and darkness high up in the mountain stages around the glittering principality of Monaco.The last day of the Monte Carlo Rally drew to a close two stages early, when the final runs over the famous Col de Turini were cancelled. With bad weather closing in there was heavy spectator traffic, and with many access roads high in the mountains blocked, the organisers decided to cancel the final two night stages on safety grounds, as any ambulances that might be needed would not be able to get through quickly and safely.

With heavy snowfall making the roads almost impassable, many of the drivers commented that these were the worst conditions they had ever experienced. The very first stage of the day turned the rally on its head, with third-place Ford driver Evgeny Novikov crashing out of his podium place after running wide on some slush and breaking his car's suspension.

Volkswagen's Jari-Matti Latvala also crashed out in the opening kilometer of the stage in the slippery conditions -- as did Ford's Juho Hanninen. Consistency was the key to survival.

“The stage was completely shit,” said nine-time world champion Loeb, a man not normally prone to strong language. “We were in first gear at around 30 kph for a lot of the time; otherwise you would just go off.”

Nonetheless, the Frenchman clung on to record the 77th win of his illustrious career. With only a limited program of events planned for this season however, the fight for the title looks to be wide open.